X-23: The making of a life
by jaggakopp
Summary: After the events of Logan, Laura faces another tragedy. Her timeline was destroyed by the events that restored the world of Thanos misdeeds. Now she's alone in an unknown universe trying to cling to the last words of her father "Don't be what they made you." Warning: Violence against minors.
1. Chapter 1

They walked northwest. Only stopping when one of them got stuck or when they needed a small break. Laura wanted to keep on moving. She'd probably make it to the border by herself at twice the speed they were keeping now. She both wanted to be left alone and have the others company at the same time. Rictor and the other kids were with her and her with them, supporting one another every step of the way. The journey seemed agonizingly slow. She missed Gabriella. She and some of the other nurses were the only people who had treated them well. The tests and experiments that had always been painful, sometimes in more ways than one, was sometimes bearable only because she was there behind the glass looking at her with comforting eyes. She would tell her stories when they were alone. A story of a doll who wanted to become a real boy, a story of a girl who married a bear-prince who turned out the be a normal person, and her favorite stories: the stories about the X-men.

"That is your father," Gabriella had told her once, pointing at the yellow man with the claws who was in the middle of fighting a green-skinned monster. "He is a great hero, and you can be one too, Laura." When she first heard that she didn't understand much about what a father was. Pinocchio's father was his father because he had created him. She sometimes wondered why the people in the facility wasn't her father instead of this clawed man. Gabriella said that the facility didn't love her, and he did. This happened before she had gone through her great change and gotten the same abilities has the yellow man in the comic book had. That man had been her father. He hadn't been like Pinocchio's father. He had been mean, always yelling, always insulting her not at all the loving man who danced with the Pinocchio at the end of the story. Charles had been nice to her, that was the reason she had stayed as well as Gabriella's wish of her to go with her father. Logan had loved her at the end and had given his life for it. She picked up the pace. She didn't care that she was getting ahead of the others. She didn't want to stop, she didn't want to think about this anymore.

After three hours they stopped for a short rest to Laura's increasing frustration. She didn't understand how the others got so tired so quickly. She sat at the edge of the group, arms around her legs while the others quietly talked amongst themselves. Rictor went up to her, sat beside her on a nearby log and looked at the sky.

"We should be close now, probably not more than an hour left." he looked at her with concern. "We're close now, you haven't smelled anything?"

Laura shook her head; the wind was in the wrong direction and the people that were there to get them was probably still too far away for her to smell. Rictor nodded, rose and placed a hand on Delilah's back silencing her.

"We should get moving. We're nearly there," he said quietly and reassuringly. The children gathered their meager belongings and started to move through the forest with Rictor in the lead.

After about an hour some of them were getting worried. What if they had gone the wrong way? What if they didn't find the border. Rictor with his compass tried to reassure them that it was only a matter of time now. And he was right. Only after a few minutes, the wind changed its direction, and Laura could smell the odor of fuel. They had gone a little of course but on the whole, they were close. Laura quietly told Rictor, and he made the group follow her. It was agonizingly slow for her, she constantly felt like she needed to slow down so that the rest of the group could catch up to her. She could now hear it; a helicopter. She nearly went into a straight up dash when she heard it. Freedom was so close now. She nearly burst out of the forest into a glade where a woman with red hair stood looking worried and impatient. Laura suddenly stopped and hid behind a tree. How did she know that this person wasn't part of the Reavers? She didn't have any guarantees on that. What if that helicopter just took her back, they would need them now that the beast that looked like her father was dead. She didn't get to think about it for a long time before the other kids went running into the glade. The woman beamed at them and motioned them to get inside, she exchanged an extra few words with Rictor who motioned at Laura to get out of her hiding place. She went into the glade, the woman stretching out a hand to her to help her into the helicopter. She smiled at Laura and started to say something. Then everything went wrong.

An explosion of colour in the sky. Red, purple, yellow, green, blue and orange raged across the heavens. The sound was deafening, Laura could feel as blood dripped down her side of her face as something popped in her ear. Then came the first shockwave. As Laura was struck to the ground with such force that all air flew out of her lungs as she saw the helicopter tipped over, her friends screaming inside of it. The strange wave seemed to come from all around her all from nowhere at the same time. The second one hit, much stronger than the last and this time the sound came with it and not before it. Laura was struck up in the air, she screamed in pain and in fear but she couldn't even hear her own voice. Bolts of multicolour lightning came down from the sky, striking the helicopter and the trees around the clearing. These were silent, and what they struck would disappear in a cloud of grey smoke. She saw from her point of view how a bolt hit one of her friends. April didn't scream, she just looked confused as she started to vanish. Laura fell down to the ground, hearing bones crack in her back from the force of it. More lightning came down in quicker succession now. The helicopter was nearly all turned to ash by now and the whole of Project X-23 was trying to get out of it. Laura felt her bones snap back into place as the third shockwave hit breaking what felt like all of her body. She was barely conscious as she saw Rictor being crushed in the same way. She gasped for breath as the fourth one sent one of her ribs into her lung. She started to pass out as a lightning bolt hit her. She was unconscious as it started to dissolve her.

* * *

Laura woke gasping for air. She turned to her side and started a harsh cough. She spit out blood and pieces of bone. She tried to stand but as she did a great nausea came over her and she threw up as she fell down on the ground again. She was breathing heavily, she was freezing and starving, like she hadn't eaten for weeks. It took her a couple minutes to get her bearings again. She wiped her mouth with her arm, and she saw that she was in the same glade she had been before the explosion, only that now it was nighttime and the helicopter was nowhere to be seen. She stood carefully on weak legs, and she almost fell back on the grassy ground again but managed to hold her balance. She only now realized that she was completely naked, and she understood why she was so cold. Rictor and the others were nowhere to be seen. She called for them. No response. She called again louder. The forest remained silent. It was like they had never been there in the first place. The trees that had been destroyed by the colored lightning were still there, everything was identical. Except for the fact that she was alone again. She looked around in confusion, everything seemed to be in slow motion. She screamed their names in fear. The forest remained silent. Laura lifted her head to the sky and screamed in anger, confusion and grief. The world around her turned blurry as tears started to form in her eyes. She continued to scream out the names of her friends: Rictor, Juile, Stephen, Joey, Gideon, Jonah, Rebecca, Bobby, April, Delilah, Jamaica, Jackson, Mira, Tomás, Erica, Stephen, Tamara. Nothing happened. She tried again, her voice breaking more and more, her nose running. She started to call for Charles and Gabriella, she started to call to Logan. She screamed until her voice was raw and when it was she popped her claws and started to slice one of the nearby trees in frustration. After the tree fell she was left standing, knuckles bloody but not damaged. Her healing factor saw to that. She fell down on the ground with tears flowing like rivers.

She wondered what she was supposed to do. It had to have been the Reavers who had done this… whatever it was. She didn't know if her friends were dead, maybe they were still alive somehow. No, that wasn't true. She remembered Rictor's body as it was crushed by the shockwave and she knew that he must have died. Maybe the rest of them survived, though. Like she had. She doubted it though, none of the other children had her abilities. She should have done something… when the explosion came, she should have taken them away from the helicopter, she should have forced them into the forest again, she should have… she didn't know. It was the second time this day she failed saving someone. The question now was what she was going to do. She couldn't go back the way she came, without the helicopter as a reference she didn't know from where she had come from and she could just go right back over the border where the Reavers would find her. But she couldn't stay here either. She was starving and her healing factor was based on her hunger so if she didn't find food she wouldn't survive. Did she deserve to survive? She didn't know. Everyone she had ever cared about was gone. She was truly alone. She sat down on the newly fallen tree, the bark wasn't very comfortable on her skin but she didn't care. She needed food. She guessed that she could scavenge in the forest for something to satiate her hunger. Her nose should be able to get her to an animal she could eat. She decided to get out of the glade, if she was going to hide from the Reavers she might as well do it in an area that wasn't completely exposed.

Laura didn't know what time it was. She had been taught how to tell the time of a watch. That wouldn't have mattered here anyways since she didn't have a watch. She didn't have much of anything right now. She tried to stay focused on finding food, but unlike Jamaica, she didn't know what plants were edible and that left only hunting. She wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to look for tracks, something that the facility had taught her. The tracks they had planted was always human, though. She didn't know many animals. Only the beasts from the stories Gabriella used to tell her and most of those she had told from her memory and not a book. Because of this she knew that a bear was big and hairy, with a long nose and rounded ears. She could imagine that animal in many different ways but she didn't know if anyone of them was correct. She shook her head and tried a different tactic. She started to follow her nose. There were a lot of animals in the forest, most of them were birds that were too quick and too high up for her to catch. So she continued, straight ahead, following so the wind always was on her right side. She stopped, she had smelled something upwind. She started to quickly move through the forest, focusing completely on moving as quietly as possible. She didn't want to think about anything else. On weak legs, she told herself over and over that she needed to be strong now, stronger than ever.

She crouched down, upwind from the animal and hidden behind a bush and started to wait for her moment. She could still smell it, whatever it was, and it was slowly coming towards her hiding place. She continued lie in wait while trying to suppress her anxiety, hunger and impatience. She saw it now and it was huge. A brown-furred animal with large horns on its head grazed towards her hiding spot. It had a large nose and what Laura could see, horse feet. After a few moments of observation, it seemed to be constantly vigilant, always turning its head this way and that to let its large black eyes scan the area. Laura could hear it sniffing in the air before it kneeled down on its front legs, lowered it's head to some bushes and take large bites out of it. Laura didn't hesitate, even though she didn't know the anatomy of the beast she knew that the jugular always was located in the throat, no matter the mammal. She jumped out of the bush with as much speed as she could muster, released her claws while flying through the air and levered a strike towards the big animal. It didn't have the time to get up on its feet before Laura had sliced two big cuts under its massive head. It made a wailing sound that turned into a gurgle as the blood flowed into its respiratory passage before it butted Laura with one if it's horns when she landed. She felt one of her ribs crack as she fell backwards and she screamed in pain as her claws sliced off a big chunk of the horn. The beast tried to run away, but it was too late. It's movements became clumsy as it struggled to get its massive body through the narrow forest before it came to a complete halt and fell down on the ground, frantically panting. Laura didn't feel much better than the animal, the difference was that she would heal, slower than she was used to because of her hunger. After a few minutes of painful healing she no longer heard the beast breathing she rose and walked to the animal. She couldn't make a fire as the Reavers might find her. She knew that she could eat any flesh, raw or cooked because of her healing factor, one of the little tests they had performed after her change. She prefers the cooked variant but didn't have a choice now. With her claws out she began to carve the animal, piece by piece and started to eat there and then. After this, she needed a shelter and a source of water. After that she could try and figure out what to do.

* * *

"Alright Ricky, the first thing we need is to find some fresh tracks,," Shawn said while adjusting the rifle on his shoulder. He looked at the young teenager behind him that had a worried expression. "You're not getting cold feet now? I'd hate to cancel this little expedition, It's a 30-minute drive home."

The teenager shook his head.

"I'm just tired and carsick, Dad. Forest paths aren't the smoothest ride, you know."

"That'll pass after a while in the morning air." Shawn said dismissively, "Do you have your equipment?"

Ricky nodded and adjusted his rifle as his father had. This was his first time out hunting and he seemed uncomfortable in his newly purchased gear.

Shawn looked at his son, he still couldn't believe he was alive. After the day that now had been named The day of Ashes half of the earth's population had been wiped out in a flash, he and his wife Delilah had been survivors, Ricky had not. They had watched as their son vanished before their eyes without having any power to stop it. The worst part was that they had been fighting over some stupid shit like they always did. It had been a hard couple of weeks for everyone, the entire planet was going to hell as world leaders randomly died as well as their replacements. The governments of the world had been in chaos, and the UN tried desperately to contact the Avengers to no avail. Then, after a few weeks, something had happened. The sky had lit up in a flash, and an immense sound of thunder could be heard. Suddenly, lightning came down from the sky with colors that usually only was reserved to retro neon clubs. And Ricky was back. Looking the same as he had ever done. Black hair, like his father, brown eyes like his mother with a gaunt face that had a confused look on it. Wearing the same band-branded T-shirt that seemed to scream 'No one understands the real me.' Shawn had never cried as much as he had done that day, even more so than when Ricky had disappeared. It had been a week since then and the world, still not even close to recovering, still seemed to return to a sense of normalcy.

"Alright then, let's go hunting," Shawn said and entered the forest.

Since this was Ricky's first time hunting, Shawn had settled that they start out with small game. No use in starting out with the big stuff like deer or moose until he had grasped the basics. Shawn had already gone over the 101s of hunting with him many times and he thought that Ricky had listened once or twice to what he had said, but there was no better teacher than experience, especially first hand. They delved deeper into the forest, only whispering to one another to not scare the prey. Suddenly Shawn sniffed and looked down on the ground.

"Hold up" he raised one of his hands toward Ricky.

"What is it?" Ricky had been quiet for most of the time while they were walking, but now when his car sickness was gone and most of what Delilah called TMS (Teenage Morning Syndrome) was gone, Shawn could actually hear some excitement in his voice.

"Come look at this Ricky, something's been here" Shawn pointed at the ground in front of them.

"Okay, so what?" Ricky said a little too loud and Shawn raised a finger to silence him.

"Something has been dragged here, something large. See the ground here? The vegetation is torn up, there is also some fur in the bushes over there."Shawn said as he went up to the track examining it closer with as much eagerness as you could have when also tried to stay completely silent.

"So why is that strange? Some predator took out a deer or something?"

"Probably a moose And It looks a little weird," Shawn said stroking his black-gray mustache absentmindedly kneeling down to see better.

"Still haven't told me why." Ricky said impatiently.

"Hell son, I'm not gonna give you all the answers, try and figure it out for yourself," Shawn said with as much impatience as his son. Ricky sighed and knelt down beside his father to examine the track. He didn't see much at first but after a few minutes of standing up, following it for a little bit, he noticed something.

"There is a piece of horn here," Ricky said half-whispering to his father.

"Good, don't pick it up," Shawn said as he went to his son and looked at the horn. He looked at how it lay and picked it up to examine closer. It wasn't a complete antler, but he could see that it was part of a moose. It had been sliced perfectly, it looked like it had been done with a water jet cutter, so perfect was the cut.

"There's another piece here," Ricky said and pointed at a point where Shawn hadn't looked yet, even if it was practically next to them. He picked up the other piece and fitted the first and second piece together. There wasn't even a seam. He got a sinking feeling in his chest.

"Tell me son, why is this weird" Shawn said as he gave the pieces to Ricky who held them up closer to examine the perfect cut.

"I don't think this was done by an animal. It looks too clean." Ricky said after a few seconds, Shawn was already examining the rest of the scene.

"So if this wasn't done by an animal, why would the tracks be strange?" Shawn asked, he sat down on a nearby log, he took his thermos of coffee and poured into his cup. He waits for Ricky to completely analyze the scene, tapping impatiently with his foot. Ricky looked at the scene again before he took out his map and compass, he looked confused at it for a second before going to his father pointing at a part of the map.

"We're around here, right?" he asked, Shawn nodded but didn't elaborate, he took a sip of coffee.

"Then why are the tracks leading to over there? That would only lead them deeper into the forest, not to any settlement or road."

Shawn nodded, drank the rest of his coffee with one quick motion and rose.

"That'll have to do; time is of the essence," he said as he adjusted his pack and started to follow the track, not bothering to mind his movements anymore.

"What do you mean?" Ricky said, struggling to keep up with his dad in the underbrush.

"That horn wasn't cut by an animal, that was manmade, from the small prices of flesh infested with insects nearby, the kill was probably made about a week ago. The animal wasn't cut up into smaller pieces to make it easier to carry, instead, the whole thing was dragged on the ground. This tells me that we're dealing with an inexperienced hunter who probably lost his way and maybe lost in the woods."Shawn concluded, keeping a close eye on the trail and his compass.

"Wait, couldn't have been a predator that dragged both the animal and the hunter with them. Like a bear?"Ricky asked with a voice that broke even more than it used to.

"Maybe, even so the hunter would be dead and eaten by now and it's our responsibility to find out." Shawn said determinedly.

"Isn't it the park rangers job or something?"

"Sure, but out here I don't have any reception on my radio or on my cell phone and this could literally be a life or death situation." Shawn showed Ricky his cell phone that currently showed no bars.

"But what if the predator found us?" Ricky sounded more and more homesick the more time went on.

"If it was a predator it has probably moved on by now. It's been a week since the kill after all. Animals usually don't own freeze boxes and meat turns bad very fast."Shawn looked back at his son that had gotten an even more pale complexion than he usually had. He didn't want to lose him again, he thought the risk to his sons well being so minuscule though that his duty to other hunters overtook that fear.

"Listen" He stopped, turned around, looked into his son's eyes and said calmly "I will never let anything bad happen to you, You just stay behind me and watch my back, you hear? I have done similar rescue missions before so I know that nothing is going to happen, alright?"

"Alright…" Ricky said hesitantly but it seemed to make him lose the fear a little bit.

"Alright, now then, let's be superheroes and help a person in need, yeah?" Shawn said with a slight smirk and plenty of sarcasm. He always liked to make fun of people like the Avengers, especially that goody-two-shoes Captain America.

* * *

Authors note:

So, let's get some things out of the way;

1\. This is my first fanfiction though I have written some short stories before. I do want honest critique, so if you liked it, please tell me why, and if you didn't like it then the same goes to you as writing is a skill I want to improve.

2\. English is not my native language, so if I did some typos or bad grammar please tell me where but have some consideration here as well.

Now, some lore stuff. This takes place after Avengers 4 (which at the time has not gotten a name yet) so this becomes very much an AU after that movie comes out. Needless to say, the Avengers, somehow, managed to reverse the death-snap at the end of Infinity War and therefore, every character that turned into dust is now alive again, hurray for having things in stories that make characters omnipotent. In the X-men timeline that Logan took place in was destroyed because of the immense power of the infinity stones and because otherwise there would be no plot.

So… welcome, have fun. Grab a beer, soda or cat and enjoy _X-23: The Making of a life_


	2. Chapter 2

Laura sat in her usual hiding spot in a tall tree right next to the glade she had first awoken in. She was watching the clearing for any signs of… anything. She didn't know why she expected the helicopter or her friends to return there. She hoped that they did, though. Even seeing the Reavers would at least confirm something. She would know that she still was hunted, that the shockwaves and the lightning could have been their doing. Maybe they would take her back, she'd like to think that she would resist in that situation. But at this point she didn't know. Maybe her friends had been captured by them, somehow. Maybe they wouldn't try to kill them. Maybe they would treat them better. That was a lot of maybes and not a whole lot of answers.

She wrapped the pelt she had skinned off the brown-furred animal around herself closer, the cold was worst in the morning and sitting still didn't help that. She didn't worry about surviving; she could to that even in the most hazardous temperatures. The problem was that she didn't want to be here any longer. She was always cold, food was a growing problem and her sensitive hearing and keen reflexes prevented her from sleeping as the smallest sound in the forest could cause her to sit straight up in a panic. But most of all, she couldn't stay here because of the memories. Yet she came back to the same clearing, day after day, waiting for something to happen and yet nothing did. She had counted six days alone, excluding the night when she had killed the animal. She had dragged it to a stream where she could get water, so she could prepare a shelter for herself without having to backtrack every time she got hungry. There was a lot of meat on the animal, and a warm fur that she easily had skinned from its body with the help of her claws. Unfortunately, the carcass had started to smell foul by now and she had decided that she probably shouldn't eat anymore from it to instead find another kill today. She probably still could eat the rest of the meat even though it tasted foul, but to eat that it would have to be an emergency. The smell alone almost made her throw up which kind of defeated the point of eating. She sighed and carefully climbed down the tree she had been perched in, she still didn't want to make a lot of noise and she didn't want to snag her only piece of clothing on a protruding branch.

She traced her own steps back to her new home, if you could call it that. She had gathered long sticks and put them against a tree to form a makeshift shelter for the wind and rain. The rotting carcass of the animal was nearby, though downwind and covered in leaves and branches to minimize the smell. There was a small stream of water nearby and the constant sound was soothing to her ears. Birds sang in the trees above her and the sun shined on her with a piercing yellow glow through the leaves. Laura barely noticed any of this. She tried hard not to think about anything else then the thing she was doing in the moment. She was going to drink from the stream, then she was going to go hunt, then she was going to carry her prey back, then she would eat and then… she didn't know, so she continued her mantra in her head. Drink from the stream, hunt for food, back with the prey, eat her food, and so on. She was so focused on this that when she got to the stream cupped her hands and took a long drink she didn't even hear the footsteps coming from her side until it was too hide.

Out of the bushes came a large, a little overweight man. He had a black-grey mustache and camouflage clothes on with a backpack and a rife in a sling over his shoulder. He hadn't seen Laura yet but now Laura noticed him. She froze. Behind the large man came a much younger one, with black hair and a gaunt face, clothed in the exact same way as the older man was, also with a rifle. He looked nervous.

 _Always take out the most dangerous target first, an uncertain person will be a worse shot and make irrational decisions. Kill the leader first, then his subordinates._

Laura had already subconsciously released her claws as her training took over, she didn't even have time to suppress it. Only now did the two men notice her and both of them jumped back in surprise with sharp inhales.

"What the hell!" The older man managed to say in surprise before Laura was on him.

She had jumped a distance that was only matched by professional athletes with her claws aimed straight for his chest. The mustached man managed to jump out of the way just in time, but in the reflexive movement he had fallen prone on the ground. No longer with a target to hit, Laura also fell towards the ground as the momentum of her leap took her way past where she thought she was going to land. She sheathed her claws and with her hands she pressed against the ground as she fell toward it and managed to flip back on her feet with a somersault. She turned around to her attackers, only to see the younger man removing the hunting rifle from his shoulder. He started to trail the gun towards her, but Laura's claws were already released again and the barrel was sliced in three pieces before her had the chance. He stumbled back from the ferocity of her strike, his foot stuck on a tree root and he fell down, arms flailing in an attempt of trying to both defend himself and keep his balance. Laura leaped on his chest to keep him down as she raised her claws to deliver a deadly strike to the throat.

Laura's ears started to ring as a gunshot boomed in the quiet forest. She felt a sharp pain of a bullet as it went through her arm and into her ribcage, flinging her of the young man with the mere force. She screamed in pain as she saw the older man with a look of pure fury had gotten up and was trailing his gun at her. She screamed at him as the man shot her a second time in the chest. Laura was pushed again by the force of the shot, and she could feel a rock under her head as it was whiplashed towards the ground. She let out a pained cough, blood sprouting from her mouth, the last bullet had probably hit her lung. The man shot her again, and again, and again. Screaming incoherently at her. Her arm was already healed and she felt as the first bullet in her ribcage started to be pushed out of her body. She gasped for breath as the rest bullets slowly wiggled it's way out of her body. After a small while she forced herself to look at the two strangers. The older man was now turned against her, helping the younger one up from the ground. Laura looked at the older man inspecting the younger, looking for injuries and asking fast worried questions that Laura barely could hear over the thumping of her own heartbeat in her head. With gritted teeth she pushed herself up with her now fully healed arm as both bullets that once was in her body was dropped to the ground. The older man didn't see her, as he was busy tending to the younger. The younger man, however, saw over the others shoulder and his eyes widened.

"Look out!" He cried out in alarm and as the older man turned to see what was behind him his left shoulder was impaled by two long adamantium coated claws.

Laura had leaped through the air again and as the older man stumbled backwards she stabbed him again in his side. He didn't look like he was in pain for a moment. He looked at his wound in complete confusion before his breathing slowed and he fell to the ground. He was going into shock. He was no longer a threat. Laura turned to the younger man who had been completely still during the attack. He looked at the older man, now covered in blood, in complete surprise. Laura didn't hesitate, she prepared herself for another attack while her next target was confused.

"Dad?" the young man asked in a choked voice, barely a whisper.

Laura froze. The fury in her body suddenly was replaced with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She stared at the bloody man beneath her feet like it was the first time seeing him. She looked at the younger man who had turned his gaze towards her, he also seemed like frozen in place. Laura could now see that there were similarities between them. They had the same broad nose, the same black hair and the same brown eyes. Laura stepped away from the person beneath her looking at her trembling bloody hands. She was breathing fast now. Her heart was beating so fast. She wanted to run, to escape. The man was bleeding out fast, he tried to stop the bleeding with his hands but the liquid just continued running between his fingers. Laura made her decision. She unsheathed her claws with a 'snikt' and looked at the younger man.

"Bandage?" she asked him. Her voice was raspy from days of not using it. The young man who had started to cry took one step back. He made a questioning noise, not being able to get words out of his mouth.

"Bandage?" she asked again, this time stretching out her hand towards him. The younger man took another step back, still looking terrified at Laura. He glanced at his father who was losing consciousness now. Laura slapped the older man to make him stay awake. She stretched out her hand again towards his seemed to make a decision as well, he took off his large backpack and started rummaging through the pack, throwing out everything he didn't need all around him. He took up a small red box and threw it hesitantly at Laura. She snatched it out of the air and released the claws on her left hand.

"Don't!" A panic yell came from the younger man. Laura ignored him and cut open the green camouflage vest the older man had so that she could see the wound. The older man was barely holding on. He attempted to focus his eyes on the young girl who took out a bottle of alcohol from the box. She poured some of it on the wounds and the older man screamed in pain as his body reflexively twitched. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he now laid unconscious. Laura knew she had to move fast. She applied pressure with the help of a cotton wad and her foot as she started to tie the bandage around the body of the man. She did the same for the other wound next to it and for the two punctures on the shoulder. Luckily, those were not as serious. When she was done, she turned to the younger man and her eyes widened as she saw him trailing his gun towards him.

"Step away from him!" he said with tears in his eyes.  
He was untrained with the rifle. Laura could see that much. His gangly arms had a too lose grip on the end of it and he had closed one eye to aim better, or so he thought. With his father so close it was as likely the son would hit him instead of her. So Laura complied, she didn't let down her guard, though. She was ready to spring at any moment.  
"He needs a hospital," she said motioning with her head towards the father without letting go of her gaze of the son.  
"No shit!" the younger man snapped back, he pointed to the bag of equipment on the ground.

"There's a radio in there, t-throw it here," he stuttered at Laura, trying to sound in charge of the situation.

Laura nodded and slowly went to the bag. She searched for a little while but couldn't find it in the bag. She looked through the equipment she had thrown out of it when she had looked for the first aid kit. She found after a few moments a green coloured camouflage radio. She held it up and gently threw it towards the younger man. He tried to snatch it out of the air but fumbled, and it dropped to the ground. He picked it up and started to press the buttons on it as the air was filled with the sound of static noise. After a few seconds of frustrated mashing, the man threw the radio to the ground.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he said as tore his hair with one hand, the weight of the rifle made it point towards the ground as he did.

"No signal, gonna need to get out of here," he said to himself. He looked at Laura and then at his father. He started to say something but stopped. Laura let him think, because if she was honest she didn't know what to do either. She didn't want to be exposed to the reavers.

"Are you from Canada?" she asked carefully. The younger man looked at her in confusion, eyes still shifting from her to his father to the rifle in his hands. He nodded hesitantly, and a rush of excitement filled her.

"You know the way back?" she asked a little too quickly. The younger man glanced behind him for a moment.

"I don't know… maybe." he said. He wasn't exactly the picture of confidence. Laura pondered for a moment, she could probably smell the way they came but that would be pretty slow. Still better than nothing.

"Help me with him. Take his legs" she said as she grabbed the older mans arms and started to pull on him. The younger man hesitated, then looked at his father and grabbed his legs. They both almost dropped him as the heavy man's weight and the height difference between the two carriers made it hard for Laura to keep her balance.

"Wait." she said as she was about to drop the man to the ground again.

They lowered him to the ground, and Laura ran back to the shelter she had used as a home for a few days. She took the rest of the animals pelt she had skinned a few days ago and tied two long sticks to each end of it. She ran back with her creation and put it on the ground next to the wounded hunter. She motioned to the son and together they lifted him up on the makeshift stretcher and they started to move along the path the men had stumbled upon her.

* * *

They moved with agonizing slowness. Laura's forehead dripped with sweat as they moved the heavy man through the forest. Her muscles ached as they were damaged by the stress and rebuilt in a matter of seconds. The young man only spoke in short words, mostly directions and practical instructions.

"Left here", "Right here", "Take your end around that tree so we can go between them."

She would also hear him swear under his breath once in a while as he struggled to carry the big man. Laura didn't speak because she had no idea what to say. She was in the back and was therefore forced to look at the wounded man. She often tried to look at something else but that wasn't really possible for any long periods of time and everytime she saw the father she had almost killed a feeling of nausea would come over her. They continued on the path that the young man pointed out. Laura always tried to confirm the paths they were taking by trying to find the older scent of the two men. That was harder that she had thought it was as the new, stronger scent mixed with the old and the smell of blood and iron coming from the older man was almost overpowering The young man seemed to be going the right way though, something Laura hadn't expected. He had looked so unsure when she had asked him that Laura thought that she was going to have to search for the path herself. Luckily it hadn't come to that. It would have taken a much longer time and the old man didn't seem like he had much left in him. After a long while of hurried and arduous walking Laura saw an opening to a small clearing where a big green car stood on the gravily ground.

"This is it" The young man said as a new burst of energy seemed to surge throughout his body.

They walked in a faster pace to the car, still carrying the stretcher. They had to put the old man down so his son could take out the car keys from his pocket. Then they lifted him up into the backseat of the car. The young man took out his phone with shaking hands and dialed a number before holding it to his ear.

"Hey, My dad has been stabbed and is bleeding out… I'm not sure, I think so" He looked at Laura with a strange expression"We're to the west of Highway 9, at the hunting spot near the border…"

Laura decided to check on the father as the young man talked to the person on the phone. She looked at their hands. The blisters that had formed were already subsiding and after a few moments of rest she started to feel fit again. She could barely remember the last time she had been physically tired of a long time. After she had gone through her change, she could sprint for as long as 14 hours without collapsing from the effort. That had been one of the tests they had put her though at the facility. That had been a few years ago now, though, and she thought that she could probably go longer now but she wasn't that eager to try. The old man looked even paler now. She released her claws, and she could feel the young man looking at her as she cut the fur off the makeshift stretcher and put it over the old man. The young man continued to quietly speak with the person on the other side. He went to the car, still holding the phone to his ear. He stood in front of Laura, still looking unsure and scared.

"Can you move?" He asked her with so many different emotions in his voice that Laura didn't know how to keep track of them. She let him pass, her head hanging in guilt.

They continued to wait. The young man continued to get instructions over the phone on how to treat his father and that left Laura wondering on what to do next. She realized something she hadn't before now. She was safe. Safe from the Reavers, safe from the facility, safe from any beast that they would conjure up next. She was in Canada, the safe haven. And she had no one to share it with. She looked at the father and son. The first thing she had done was hurt someone. She hadn't even known if they were bad people before she had done it, it had come like a reflex. She felt a knot in her stomach, and she sat down on the gravel with her hands around her knees, trying to ignore the welling of tears in her eyes, the waves of memories and just focus on her racing heartbeat. Neither could be ignored and Laura hugged herself harder and dug her blood covered nails into her skin. After a little while she could hear sirens coming down the narrow road that seemed to leave the area. Laura glanced at the road as the young man started to move towards the sound in anticipation, he was still on the phone. An ambulance and a police car barreled down the road at such a speed that the gravel on the road flew behind them at such a velocity that they bounced off the trees and left small impact marks behind. The young man waved at them and the two cars stopped in front of him. A woman with blonde hair and a burly man with a came out of the police car in uniform and went up to the worried looking teenager.

"You're Ricky White?" the woman asked while glancing over her shoulder and motioning at someone in the ambulance. Ricky nodded and pointed at the car.

"Dad's in there…" he paused for a moment and pointed at Laura, "and she's over there."

The police woman looked at her with a puzzled expression. Laura tensed up. This was it, either she ran into the woods again and vanished or she went with the police and maybe they would help her. A man in a blue uniform, pretty similar to the uniforms of the police got out of the ambulance as two more people, one woman and one man got out the back with a stretcher. They went to the car that had Ricky's father in it and lifted him up.

"Hello there," a deep voice said calmingly beside Laura. She turned from the scene and saw that the burly police officer squatting beside her. He put his hand on his chest "My name is Liam, I'm a police officer. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Laura shook her head carefully, Liam nodded solemnly and looked at the pelt she still had wrapped around her.  
"That looks pretty warm, where are the rest of your clothes?" he asked, still in the same calming deep voice. Laura looked a little uncomfortable at him and shrugged once. He tilted his head slightly and looked at her with a thoughtful expression.

"Okay, do you have anyone we can call? A parent or guardian?" Laura didn't react. Liam persisted.

"What's your name? Can you tell me that?" he asked, glancing at the teenager who was now looking at Laura with a tense expression, ready to spring at a moments notice if she did anything. Laura looked at Ricky and lowered her eyes almost immediately, she turned to Liam.

"Laura," she said quickly and quietly. Liam nodded at her again.

"Thank you, Laura. Do you have a last name?" he asked carefully. Laura's eyes darted around the ground, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. Laura was the only name she had ever gotten. Well there was one other name, but Gabriella had told her that 'that' name wasn't her real name. So Laura simply shrugged again.

"Okay Laura. We have some more questions for you but first you need to go to the hospital to get a checkup and get some proper clothes, alright?" Liam said in a still calming but he made sure that there was no question that she was going with them.

"She's not going in the same car as us!" an angry voice said to the side of Laura. Laura looked up and saw Ricky standing to the side of them, his confidence seemed to have returned after he had been joined by some more people. "She nearly killed us!"

Laura snapped her head up and gave Ricky a snarl. She had to go with them! This was her choice. She had even helped him get his father out of the forest. She had to go with them. Ricky stumbled back at her violent response and began to reach for his rifle over his shoulder. Laura got ready to spring up on her feet again.

 _Aim for the throat, the lack of blood flow to the brain will quickly impair his vision, making it almost impossible to aim._

A large hand was put on her shoulder as she was beginning to tense the muscles that made her claws release.

"That will be enough out of you" Liam firmly said to Ricky as the police officer slowly started to rise. Laura hadn't noticed before, but the man must have been over two meters. He seemed to be perfectly calm facing down the armed teenagers, though Laura could see his hands shaking a small bit as the large man rose. "I have a thing against people pulling guns on children."

Ricky seemed to stop in his tracks as the police officer towered him. He glanced behind him only to find the female police officer standing behind him with her hand on her gun holster.

"You can go in the ambulance with your father. Laura will ride with us. Isn't that right?" Liam looked at Laura expectantly. She hesitated and then nodded once. Ricky stared angrily at both of the Police officers, then at Laura. He adjusted the rifle on his shoulder and stormed off towards the ambulance.

"That could have gone better" The police woman said to Liam who sighed and stretched out a hand towards Laura.

"Come, Laura. Let's get you somewhere warm," he said with a concerned expression. Laura didn't accept his hand as she rose and started to slowly walk towards the police car, and possibly her new life.

* * *

Author's notes

Alright! This took longer than I expected. I had written almost an entire chapter before I realized that I had made Laura a very passive character, something that I really wanted to avoid when writing this as she now is the main character. So I deleted 2000 words and started basically from scratch. The first draft of this chapter had more humor because I wanted to emulate the tone and dialogue of the MCU with Shawn and Ricky. Unfortunately, they never really got the chance to speak in this version.

I also did a fair amount of research into the behavior of traumatised children when writing this chapter and that made the chapter take longer to write. Though I think that helped a lot when writing about a character with a complex problem.

As you may have noticed the series is starting off pretty slow when it comes to meeting other characters from the MCU but I wanted to focus only on setting up Laura before diving into the all of the other characters. Hopefully, a little more MCU-stuff will happen in the next chapter.

Also, I think Google maps are liars because when I researched the previous chapter I looked for where the X-23 children possibly could have gone to and found a forest that passed the border from the US to Canada but it seemed to have vanished. The in lore explanation for this is that the defeat of Thanos also brought back some trees from the dead and now Canada magickly has a forest near the border to North Dakota and always had a forest there.

Papers I used when researching the subject of trauma and behavior:

 _Treatment for Abused and Neglected Children: Infancy to Age 18_ by Anthony J. Urquiza and Cynthia Winn,  
Literature review – a trauma-sensitive approach for children aged 0-8years: Women's Health Goulburn North East,


	3. Chapter 3

The landscape passed then by. Familiar trees that had been Laura's home for the last week turned into grassy plains with a few hills here and there. Liam and the policewoman sat in the front seat in silence. The policewoman rubbed her temples and sighed. She looked at Laura with a bored expression. Laura still hadn't let down her guard and her whole body was tense. She wrapped the blue blanket they had given her around herself tighter. She was alert. If they attacked her, she would be ready, if they were attacked she knew what to do. The policewoman looked a little offended at her and turned to Liam.

"I don't think she likes me, Green," she said and pointed a thumb at Laura. Liam adjusted his rear-view mirror to look at Laura. Their eyes met in the reflective surface but were quickly broken as Laura looked down at the floor.

"I don't think you should take it personally," Liam said with his deep calming voice, now looking straight ahead on the road. The policewoman shrugged and started to stare out the window with the same bored expression. Laura continued to stare out on the landscape. She had seen a similar nature when she and her Father was going up to Eden but she never got bored watching the expanse. After years and years of being locked up underground, it was thrilling to see that there was so much more to the world than four white walls. The policewoman looked back at Laura again.

"So, why were you out in the forest?" she asked looking disinterested at her. Laura looked away from her.

"Not, now Mary, let's wait until we get to the station," Liam said patiently, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Why not? Might as well start here, nothing else to do for an hour." The woman called Mary quickly replied as her gaze lingered on Laura.

Liam leaned towards Mary and whispered something to her. She tore her eyes off Laura after a few seconds and continued staring out the window. Liam gave Laura a small wink through the rearview mirror as he turned his attention on the road again. Laura's mouth curled up to a smile as she started to relax. She looked out the window again. The landscape had looked the same for a while now and as she watched it pass before her eyelids started to feel heavy. She jerked as she felt she was falling asleep and she could feel Liam's eyes on her as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"It's alright, Laura. We'll take it from here. We'll wake you up when we're at the hospital." He said with the same soft-spoken voice he always used. Laura had no intention of going to sleep, she was just going to rest her eyes for a moment. She knew she would stay awake because she couldn't let her guard down. Not even for a moment.

Two minutes later Laura was out cold. She was lulled to sleep by the car engine noise and the quiet talks between Liam and Mary. Six days of being cold and constantly being on alert finally taking its toll when put in a warm car.

* * *

When Laura woke up, she noticed that the car had stopped. She groggily opened her eyes to find that Mary was in the middle of stretching out her hand to touch her. Adrenaline shot throughout her body as she instinctively moved away from the hand and snarled at the woman. The woman drew back her hand defensively and raised them, so Laura could see her palms.

"Woah, easy there kiddo. Jesus Christ, I just wanted to wake you up to tell you that we're here." She said motioning to the outside with her head. Laura looked out to see a great grey-white building looming over them. By a double-door, she could see Officer Liam drinking something out of a paper mug and talking with a man in a white coat. Laura shuddered when she looked at what she knew to be the doctor. They had used similar clothes at the facility; she didn't like them.

"The checkup shouldn't take that long I would think. From what I've seen you seem to be quite healthy and energized," The policewoman said dryly while looking at Laura whose body was still rigid with readiness. Laura closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. The doctor and Liam were on their way back to the car now. She would endure this. She had been through worse. Much worse.

On the whole, when the checkup was nearly done, she thought that she had handled herself pretty well. She had discovered that it was pretty easy to tune out the world when the nurses and the doctors took her blood for testing, examined her for any wounds and helped her to untangle her hair. This was nothing. She had been through similar kinds for examination every week for 9 years. To her shame, it almost felt good remembering it. Maybe because it had been Gabriella who had performed most of them. Only this time the nurses and doctors were got a strange look on their faces after they had taken the blood and saw that where blood should have started to drip after they removed the needle. She also couldn't forget that she had almost killed someone. It still lingered in her head, making her worry if the man had survived. But she tried not to let it show, she had cried too much and she didn't want anyone looking at her like she was weak. Officer Liam stood outside the examination room looking in and gave Laura a reassuring smile when their eyes met. After an hour of testing and waiting for results the doctor told her that she was 'fitter as a fiddle.' Laura didn't really know what that meant so she simply nodded and waited for the next test. When after a while only the policewoman Mary came with some clothes to her she guessed that what the doctor had said had meant that she was okay. She got dressed in the blue pants and simple white T-shirt Mary had given her and she allowed herself to relax and just feel the soft fabric on her skin. After she was dressed done, the woman told her to wait for a little bit while she called someone. A nurse turned on the TV for her and flipped through the channels and found a colorful show with drawings that moved. Laura stared fascinated at the screen as the nurse cleaned up the room. It was only when the show ended that Laura found herself alone in the room. She still thought about the father and son, wondering how they were. Laura jumped off the small bed and went to the door to open it. It was locked. She looked outside the window and saw that a security guard was stationed outside the door. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach. She knocked on the glass to get the guards attention, and he turned around with a questioning look. Laura pointed at the door and the guard shrugged.

"Sorry, you gotta wait until the officers come back. Go watch some more TV, won't you?"

Laura froze. Had she just walked into another trap? Maybe these people weren't the reavers, but they still wanted her for their own purposes…

 _Always kill the guards if you are able before escaping. Do not leave witnesses and do not let them capture you again._

Laura unsheathed her claws, the pain of it of the act only registering through a haze of anger. She walked calmly, like a cat capturing a bird and was almost at the door before it, to her surprise, opened on its own. The policewoman Mary came through it with a tray of food. Laura stopped in her track. She looked down at her hands and hid them behind her back. She sheathed the claws again. The woman raised an eyebrow at her.

"I thought you were hungry," she said carefully, eyes still looking suspicious. She looked behind her toward the security guard, put down the tray and pointed with her thumb over her shoulder.

"Were you gonna stab that guy?" she said incredulously as Laura looked away from her.

"Also, you have knives in your hands. You should probably have that checked" she continued dryly and pointed at a chair in the room as she backed away from where she had put the food "Eat something, we're going to the station after that."

Laura carefully went up to where the police officer had put the tray, staring at the ground all the way. She had almost killed someone again. It had barely been five hours, and she had almost killed two people. She needed to be better. Logan's last words to her ringing in her mind, over and over again. She devoured her food and even though she thought it was the best thing she's ever had, she didn't particularly enjoy it. When she had eaten, she pushed the tray away from her. She was still hungry but this would satisfy her needs for a long time.

"How's the father," Laura asked while wiping her mouth on her sleeve, trying not to show herself weak by showing her worry. Mary hesitated and sighed.

"Where is Liam when you actually need him? Listen, kid, he's not doing well, okay. He got messed up real bad and lost a lot of blood. The doctors and nurses are trying to stabilize him but right now it's a coin-flip." There was a beat of silence. Then Laura rose from her seat and started to walk towards the door.

"Woah there, where are you going," Mary said concerned while blocking Laura's path.

"I'm going to see him," Laura said matter of factly.

"Not if you're going to stab every person in your way, you're not." The policewoman crossed her arms. Laura could feel her cheeks turn red. She said nothing. Mary watched her and as she did the expression on her face changed to a less stern one. She sighed.

"You're worried, I get that. But you prancing in there is not helping anybody. Right now you and I are going to sit in this room and wait until Liam comes back. So you go play with something or watch some more TV and stop doing more things that will get you into more trouble than you already are" And with those words, the policewoman sat down in a chair, took out her phone and casually started to do something with it. Laura watched as the woman yawned, looked at her again and made a dismissive gesture with her other hand. The whole process had looked disarming until Laura had seen that the woman's free hand had been placed near her gun holster. Laura furrowed her brows but decided to try and appease the woman for now. She wouldn't be any problem for her even if she tried to shoot her. The moving drawings were back on the television and Laura watched interestedly as a doglike animal tried to capture a very fast, funny sounding bird.

* * *

And so when Officer Liam came, they all went back to the police car they had traveled in before. Laura was on high alert. With so many people around them, an ambush could happen at any time. She also didn't fully trust the policewoman and so she snuck her some highly skeptic glances every once in a while. The car ride to the station was quicker and smoother than the other one had been and only ten minutes later they arrived. The pair brought her to a small room with a big mirror on one side and told her to sit by a table. Laura looked around the room. It brought back more memories from the time in the facility and she felt her breathing becoming more hectic. The fact that Mary stood in one of the corners with crossed arms, looking suspiciously at Laura didn't help matters either. Liam must have noticed her discomfort because he knelt down to her level and looked her directly in the eyes."It's going to be fine, Laura. We're not going to hurt you. The detective and an attorney representing you will be here soon and we're going to be asking you a few questions. I promise that I'll be right behind the glass." The calmness in his voice helped a small bit, but the discomfort didn't vanish. She carefully sat down on the chair next to the table. A few minutes went by without much happening. Then Laura heard something, a sound that seemed to come from outside the building. It was so faint that the police probably couldn't hear it but because of Laura's enhanced senses, she could even track its position. It was a helicopter and it was closing in and landing outside the soundproof room, outside the building. A minute passed before a fit man in a blue suit came in. He was middle age, had a bit of stubble, black hair and stood in a strange, hunched pose.

"Looks like your attorney is here" Liam whispered to Laura before he rose and stretched out a hand towards the man to greet him "Officer Liam Green. Looks like you've got yourself a doozy here."

The man shook the officer's hand firmly and turned to Mary to do the same.

"There has been a change of plans. I am Captain Blonsky of the United States Marshals Service. I am here to take the enhanced individual to a more secure location." The man had recited this in a loud and precise manner and Liam furrowed his brows.

"Excuse me? We never got any information that..."

"The necessary paperwork has already been filed. You can check in your database if you would like." Blonsky interrupted with just a hint of impatience.

Laura narrowed her eyes towards the new man, whose fierce expression hadn't changed one bit since he came into the room. Her heart started to pump faster. This man was combat trained, she could see that much. The suit he was wearing was designed not to get in the way while fighting and his whole demeanor was that of a man following orders. She had met many men like this, Killed many as well. She shifted in her seat, ready to strike at any moment. This man could be connected with the facility. The Captain started to move towards Laura and as he did five more men came into the small room. Laura noticed that they all had dog tags around their necks but were dressed like civilians. Liam interrupted the man's path without any hint of aggression

"Frankly this is going a little bit too fast for me here. Who are these people? Liam held up his hands in a show of passivity. Blonsky seemed to see Liam for the first time and Laura saw a vein pulsating in the Captain's temple.

"Frankly, I don't have to tell you anything." The thin man mocked "Just know that this is for everybody's safety" Liam glanced towards Laura with a creased forehead and then turned to the military man again.

"Very well, I need to see this paperwork and I have two questions. Then you can take her." Blonsky didn't change his expression, only nodded.

"Why did the United States government get involved with this?" Liam said in the same calm tone he always had. Blonsky gave a slight smirk.

"We have reported that the incident today happened on US soil. Making it our case. Not yours." From the corner of her eye, Laura could see Mary cringe when Blonsky spoke. Laura couldn't see Liam's face when he talked but his voice sounded different, harsher.

"However, the incident involved a Canadian citizen," Blonsky said nothing for a beat as his smirk turned slowly turned into an annoyed expression. His vein started thump even more intensely.

The other men looked nervously at their captain before went around Liam and Blonsky and started to surround the table where Laura sat.

"As I said, all the necessary paperwork have been filed, you have nothing to worry about, sir." The 'sir' had been emphasized in a strange way that Laura understood that it had been meant as an insult, she just didn't understand how it was one. The other men in the room seemed to calm down a bit and someone even smirked at Liam. She still couldn't see Liam's face but his whole body seemed tense.

"The second question," he said after a short pause and he appeared to be calmer again "How did you get this information so fast? We only just reported this to the detective."  
Blonsky looked meaningfully at Mary who gave him a mock salute and relaxed against the corner. She shrugged.

"I called them, or at least the RCMP back at the hospital. Must have been them who contacted these fellows. You really came in a hurry." she said to the Captain who didn't respond. Laura glanced at Mary who ignored her to instead continue to look inspectingly at Liam. Liam only looked back at her with anger.

"We'll talk about this later," he said with the previous harshness in his voice. Mary threw up her hands in the air.

"For fuck's sake Liam, are you listening to yourself? Did you even listen to the doctor? She's enhanced and we have no idea what she can do except that she has fucking knives in her body. And you want to keep her here? She nearly killed a security guard when she was left alone of one minute, and probably would have done so if I didn't stop her. In the few hours we've known her, she has almost killed three people. The entire time at the hospital I had loaded a gun always at the ready because we didn't know what she can do! And I know you're not exactly ignorant of this because it was you who told me to do that."

Laura felt a sting of betrayal as she heard those words. She had trusted him and he had wanted to capture her. He wasn't a nice man, he had just pretended to be. And now he was going to give her to the reavers! Well, she wasn't going to let them take her.

"Liam… we don't have the equipment, nor the training to deal with this. Just let it go." Mary continued in a softer tone. Liam's expression didn't change as he stared her down, Mary didn't flinch.

"I'm going to check the paperwork. But if you touch her in the meantime, I'll report…"

"You do that." Blonsky interrupted and gave Liam a small wave of goodbye. And as Liam went out of the room the Captain turned to Laura and gave a smile so fake that it made her skin crawl.

"Don't worry Laura, we'll take good care of you if you cooperate." Laura looked around her slowly and counted the men in the room.

She could take them, the room was small so the large men wouldn't be able to maneuver as well as her. The leader was on the opposite side of the table so she couldn't take out him first. That option wasn't viable with her back exposed like this. She should have just attacked the Captain when he was in the room without his men. She heard as one of the men behind her unclipped something from his belt. She glanced behind her to see that it was two metal manacles without any chains. Laura puzzled how they worked, they were probably something to combat her. The man with the manacles gave her a blank stare. Now it was simply a waiting game until Liam came back and initiated it. Blonsky tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, it was a fast but steady rhythm. It almost corresponded with Laura's pounding heart. The door was opened and the big police officer came on. He turned to Laura with an empathic look on his face, he then nodded at Blonsky without looking at him.

"It seems to be in order," he said without a hint of emotion in his voice. Blonsky nodded once before he quickly turned to his men.

"Tretch, restrain the asset." he barked at the man with the manacles. Laura heard that as the man behind her came closer, the other men readied some handguns and pointed them at Laura.

If the enemy doesn't know you, don't show all your tricks at once. Keep them thinking they have you until you see an opening.  
She felt her hands being pulled by the man and she felt the two manacles being put around her wrist, locking her arms behind her back. She stared at Liam all the while this was happening. When the big man inevitably looked away she turned her gaze on the Captain. He seemed unfazed to Laura's disappointment. When she was told to get up she rose so quickly that the chair tumbled over, still staring at Blonsky. The other men raised their guns in response but Blonsky simply held up a hand and gave Laura a smirk. He took out a small black remote and pressed a button. Laura stumbled as the two manacles clanged together with such force that she bit her tongue in surprise. She could also feel a strange pull on the claws inside sheathed inside her arm, trying to pull them closer to her restraints. A man behind her put one hand on her back and started to try and lead her out of the room. Laura didn't resist. She gave the police officers one final look before the military men led her out of the room, out of the building and into the parking lot where there now was a big black helicopter parked in the middle of it.

The blades on the top of it were slowly starting to spin, making the same sound that Laura had heard before. When she looked up she could also she one more circling over them. She hadn't expected to be flown. If she was in the air, her chances of escaping were slim. Especially since in front of the helicopter was a stretcher filled with tight restraints that the men behind her seemed to lead her towards. They wouldn't be able to have her in her manacles and restrain her in the stretcher at the same time. She would have to risk it. It would be very difficult to fight them with her claws restricted. She swore in her head. This would have been easier if she hadn't let them restrain her at all. She had hoped that they just would have used the manacles. It was pretty cold outside and Laura didn't have a jacket. The men didn't seem like they had particularly warm clothes either and that would make them want to get inside the helicopter quickly, especially with all the cold air it was throwing at them. They put her in front of the stretcher, pointed their guns at her and started to unlock her restraints to get her into the new ones. She was going to strike three seconds after they were off. The man removed the manacles.

One, The man clipped the metal cuffs on his belt.  
Two... The other men looked ready for something to happen but she couldn't stop now.  
Three... She lunged at the first man with unsheathed claws and she was surprised not to hear the guns loudly fire.  
Then the first dart hit and she understood why. The tranquilizer serum was strong and it made her dizzy for a moment before it was gone. Her claws were already in the man who had shackled her. More darts hit her and she almost fell over but managed to stay on her feet. She turned to the men firing at her and she saw the familiar look of dread in their eyes. She felt nauseous from all the tranquilizers that had hit her but she managed to stay on her feet to go for another lunge. She fell on the ground having missed her target completely. She slashed wildly around her and managed to cut one of the soldiers. She could feel that it only had been a graze. Just when the last of the drug flowed through her system she saw Blonsky in front of her. _Kill the leader_. She ran towards him, jumping in the air and managed to cut his face. He screamed as he was blinded by his own blood. She hadn't killed him and she turned around to deal the finishing blow. But to her surprise, Blonsky faced her and gave her a wicked smile as he grabbed her arm with ease and threw her to the ground harder so hard that all the air from her lungs escaped and she was left coughing on the ground. She only managed to look up to see the vein pulsating in his temple had turned into a strange color of green before he slammed his fist into her nose and the world turned black.

* * *

Authors note

Finally! It feels like this is going to be a theme but this took longer than expected. The problem this time was that I wrote a bunch of scenes for Mary and Liam that went unused as I discovered that they were pretty much unnecessary to the larger story. So there went about a thousand words… My goal with all of the chapters is that always want them to be around 4000 words so that I can update them fairly regularly and so that you have more than a few sentences at a time.

We also got our first meeting with a real MCU character, even though he's not that popular :).

We're also getting out of Canada and into more familiar settings next time and I look forward to writing that because I already have some ideas.

I have also decided, although it's not a decision set in stone, that everything should be written from Laura's perspective. It's her story and I want to write everything from her point of view. However, what I discovered when I wrote the other scenes for Liam and Mary was that I got a better grasp of their characters. If you want to read the scene between them tell me and I'll publish it as a 'mini-chapter'.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Laura felt when she woke was that her nose was itchy. She groggily tried to raise her hand and scratch it, but she was hindered by something strapped on to her wrists. She heard the helicopter blades above her and the soldiers screaming to each other over the noise. She opened her eyes and saw her predicament. The first thing she saw was the soldiers that were sitting on a few chairs mounted to the floor. A few of the others had taken their seat at a bench-like protrusion on the inner wall. Outside she could see the shadow of the helicopter passing through the landscape beneath them. She didn't want to see what she was caught in. That would make it real. She finally looked down. She was caught in a large vertical standing stretcher and her arms, hands, legs and feet were bound with leather straps. There was also a large strap over her chest. She started to breathe heavily and began to thrash in the stretcher, her heart pounding. She couldn't get them off. She needed to get them off. She pulled and pulled but the straps were sitting so tight that they already bored into her skin. The soldiers were looking at her now with tired and resentful eyes. She saw how Captain Blonsky, who had been seated in a seat nearest the cockpit, stood up in the same strange hunched position he had been in the interrogation chamber. With perfect balance in the moving helicopter, he wandered up to her and looked her in the eyes. The cut she had given him had nearly vanished, and only a little bit of scar tissue remained over his eye. Laura thought he looked bored, though there was something else there. Something that scared her.

"You done?" he yelled at her over the noise of the helicopter. "You're not getting out of those."

Laura trashed at him with a snarl, Blonsky didn't even blink. He grabbed her cheeks and pulled her head forward. His grasp was stronger that Laura had ever felt, and she could feel tears forming in her eyes. His face changed expression so fast that it was almost comical if it hadn't been so terrifying. It had gone from emotionless to hatred in a split second. Blonsky leaned in closer until he was right next to her ear. He talked in a growling whisper, loud enough only for Laura to hear over the other sounds.

"You killed one of my men, you know. Tretch was a good soldier, and you gutted him like a pig for the slaughter." He paused for a second, apparently trying to control himself. He took a breath and continued now loud enough for everybody to hear.

"Don't get me wrong, you were defending yourself, I can respect that. But you're not going to be able to do that much longer after what you've done here to me... and my troop." He had added the last part almost like an afterthought. Some of the soldiers looked at Blonsky with raised eyebrows, then unsurely at each other. The captain didn't seem to notice but continued on in his gravely strongly accented voice.

"You know what? I'll tell everyone what you did and how you should be treated, how you deserve to be treated. But look on the bright side, where we are going, well. Let's just say that where we're going you're not going to be the only monster."

He pushed her back into the stretcher and gave her a lopsided smirk.

"Did you know that he had a family?" Blonsky yelled at her, overpowering the roar of spinning blades "Did you know that he had a girlfriend back home? Did that even register in your mind?"

"Él era un mal hombre. ¡Intentó cap…!" Laura yelled back in defiance before Blonsky grabbed her by the throat and made her stop. She grasped for air as he pushed her further into the stretcher. Blonskey leaned in closer towards her.

"It's rude to speak another language with people who can't understand it. You exclude people from the conversation…" he slowly whispered by her ear.

The vain in his temple was pulsating again, turning slowly green. Laura couldn't breathe, she tried to get free, she unsheathed her hand claws and began to helplessly scratch the air. Her hands were pointed up into the air, and she could only watch as the captain's smirk turned into a cruel smile. She tried to plead with him to stop, but nothing came out. And in her darkening vision, she could see his eyes turning green. His hand pressing hard against her windpipe. Then Blonsky suddenly released her and she drew in a deep breath, coughing and wheezing. As she was trying to fruitlessly get away from her attacker her vision started to come back and she saw that Blonsky was kneeling before her. He had his hand over his heart and looked like he was in a lot of pain, heavy pants came from him and made Laura think of a dog she had seen by one of the gas stations she, Logan and Charles had filled up on fuel for the car. Only that dog hadn't had the same look of unbridled rage. Blonsky glared at a soldier with a large nose and a strong jawline who had taken out what looked like a black remote pointed at the Captain. He gave a small mock salute to the Captain.

"Yeah, You're way over the line here, sir. Think of some clouds or something because you need to calm down." the soldier said with a calm smile, though Laura could hear some fear in his voice. The captain let out such a frenzied yell that the hair on the back of Laura's neck stood up. It was the same mindless fury that she had heard from X-24 when he had fought her and Logan in the woods. The soldier pressed the remote again, and Blonsky turned and twisted on the floor before he collapsed, breathing heavily. He looked at the soldier and nodded once and held up an okay sign. The soldier put the remote in his chest pocket and nodded back slowly. The other soldiers with their hands on their guns, now large rifles, slowly disengaged the safety. The process of rising from the floor seemed to take a lot out of Blonsky and when he stood he turned to Laura, sweat dripping from his forehead. Laura throat still ached, but the pain was quickly disappearing. Blonsky stared at her throat with interest before looking her in the eyes. Laura didn't turn away.

"Look at your future, Laura," Blonsky said calmly now with a strain in his voice. "A monster now tamed."

* * *

After that, Laura didn't say much. If she even tried to adjust herself in the uncomfortable stretcher, the soldier would see. That would get the Captain's attention, and he would simply stare at her unblinkingly until she stopped. Her heart would then jump, and she'd stop whatever she was doing. The only thing she could do was feel her restraints and test their strength. She would do that carefully and slowly, one after the other. They were on pretty tight, they had been through after she had killed one of them. The only thing that was fruitful was that her left foot's restraints were loose enough to get herself out of it if she wanted to. But what was she able to do with a foot? She had a claw in there that she could use but she couldn't move her leg that much so her options were limited. What if the Captain saw her doing something? She wanted to kill that man, almost more than anyone. He had been wrong. She wasn't a monster. That man had been bad and so he had deserved it. But she had maybe taken the life of a person that just had been near her. The father in the forest. That man had been innocent, only at the wrong place at the wrong time. This man she had killed had been bad. No matter what the Captain said. He had to be.

Laura had a pretty good view of the land as they flew, she watched as they soared over a forest that looked strikingly similar to the one she had spent several days in. They flew over trees with crimson and yellow leaves. The wind was picking up and so every tree swayed in a chaotic pattern. It would have been pretty if it wasn't for the bad company. They soon flew past the forest and back into what Laura only could guess was North Dakota. The whole journey, the fighting, the death had been for nothing. Laura was back in the United States of America in the hands of people who wanted her for their own purposes. She sagged in her restraints. But if this was the Reaves, maybe…

"Have you found anyone else?" she yelled at her captors, hope and fear in equal measure mixed in her voice. The hope sank as quickly as it had come when she saw the confused faces of the soldiers when they looked at her. The Captain quietly rose from his seat and stood before her again. He knelt down to her level and looked at her.

"You weren't alone?" he asked with the smirk reappearing. Laura looked away from him. "Are they out in the forest too? Hiding and waiting to pounce on the first lumberjack they see?"

Laura didn't answer. The Captain kept examining her and she felt his lingering stare. She wanted to get away from this man. She didn't want him close to her. The Captain stretched out a hand to grab her again.

"Captain Blonsky, we're here. We're setting down, sir" one of the soldiers who was looking outside one of the windows yelled towards his superior. Blonsky's approsh stopped as he looked back at the soldier. He nodded, seemingly to no one but himself. His hand approached again as Laura tried to move away from it with no success. To her surprise, the Captain only moved away some hair that had fallen over her eyes.

"We'll talk more later, doll." he said with the same smirk he had had before and gave her two hard pats on the cheek. As he walked back to his seat and strapped himself in, she could only watch and wait to find an opening to escape. She shuddered. Only this time she wouldn't have help from anyone, she had to make do by herself.

The chopper landed with a thump and the blades started to slow down. The constant noise had given her highly sensitive ears tinnitus, but that would vanish after a little while as it always did. A ramp was lowered from the helicopter and a soldier started to push Laura's stretcher down it. They were at some military base. She had never been to one before and this one seemed very large. Iron fences surrounded the area and men and women in camouflage gear ran around, performing different tasks both related and unrelated to the newly arrived helicopter.  
A soldier who had quickly started to refuel the helicopter noticed her on the stretcher, and she could see one of his eyebrows shooting up. He then quickly looked away as the soldiers that had been on the helicopter passed beside him, only glancing at Blonsky. If the captain noticed, he didn't pay him any mind. They moved through the base, and as they did more and more people noticed her and she could see confusion, concern, and fear when they looked at her and the troop escorting her. Yet no one said or did anything. After a short while, they reached an airfield and she got turned towards a large airplane. It wasn't as big as she had seen on some pictures but it was still so large that she wondered how it was supposed to stay in the air. Joey, one of the X23 project, had been able to make things fly. Maybe they had to have a person like him on the plane to make it run? The soldiers pushed her up the ramp and into the plane. The plane looked a little bit smaller on the inside with all the chairs that littered the main floor… main deck? She didn't know what it was called, but that didn't stop the soldiers to push her beside the main compartment and into a smaller one that was littered with metal and wooden crates, all strapped to the walls with what looked like black nets. The soldiers tied the stretcher to some hook-like protrusion in the wall with some rope until it didn't rock much when it was shook. In front of her sat an ominous looking chair, waiting to be filled.

"Was it me to take the first watch or was that you, Loop?" one of the soldiers with a surprisingly high voice asked the others.

"It's you, Gasser. Don't fucking try it." one of the others said through a mouthful of chewing-gum, he sounded highly annoyed.

"Airsickness getting to you again, mate?" the first one said with a mocking smile, the gum-chewer now looked at the first one with almost Logan-levels of irritation.

"No, just squeaky bastards who won't take responsibility." Loop said slowly while strapping the rope to the last hook. "So sit the fuck down, I'll come get you in an hour and a half."

"You really are the definition of 'stick up your ass'," Gasser remarked as he reluctantly sat down on his chair. Laura could now see that this Gasser was the same soldier that had used the strange remote on the captain. He was shorter than the other soldiers and Laura could now see that his nose wasn't actually that big. It did, however, look like someone had thrown a fire extinguisher at it.

"If you can't shut up, I'm going to make you the definition of boomstick up your ass.'" Loop said as he left through the door again leaving Gasser and Laura alone.

"That one is really bad at banter. He takes it too seriously." The soldier said to apparently no one in particular. He then turned to Laura and pointed at her face.

"Looks like we're going to have a long talk you and me. Are you more of a talker or a listener?" he asked as he leaned back as casually as he could in his chair. Laura glared at the man, he didn't seem perturbed.

"Even with that strange outburst you had before… I figure the latter." He clasped his hands together."Great, we're going to make an excellent combo then."

Laura perked up as she heard the loud voices of a lot of other people boarding the plane. Gasser looked behind him.

"Yeah, it's a big transfer today. A lot of people are getting sick of the work environment, so we need some replacements. People want to see their families you know." Laura didn't know exactly what he was talking about. But she understood people wanting to meet their families She was however not going to let him see that. So she demanded that her face be set in a permanent glare. She was getting pretty good at them. Traveling with Logan for a few hundred miles without speaking will do that to you. Gasser cocked his head at Laura and peculiar look flowed across his face.

"How's your nose?" he asked with one raised eyebrow.

"Fine," she said shortly, still glaring. Gasser leaned in closer and inspected it. He nodded and then flicked it. Laura blinked and almost sneezed from the impact as Gasser laughed at her. She glared at him again which Gasser seemed to find even funnier.

"Man, I wish I had your powers, then I wouldn't have this broken down thing" he pointed at his own nose.

"Did the Captain brake yours too?" she asked carefully. Gasser smiled and shook his head.

"Nah, but I think he really wants to sometimes." He fiddled with his belt and took out and showed the little black remote Laura had seen him use in the Helicopter. Laura examined it as closely as she could. It was pretty unassuming, just a black square in some sort of metal. It had a keypad with numbers and four buttons under it. One green, one yellow, one red and one black.

"What is that?" she asked curiously and Gasser leaned in closer.

"Classified" he whispered and put it back in his belt. "Very hush hush"

Laura looked away from the soldier. Of course, he wasn't going to answer her.

"Hey, cheer up. No need to beat yourself up over being a dummy." Gasser said as he once again leaned back into his chair.

"You're a dummy," Laura said under her breath. Gasser snorted at that.

"Great response kid. Real hurtful. We're gonna have to work on that banter of yours"

It sounded like the last of the passengers had entered the plane now as Laura could hear the stairs being raised. Gasser looked out through the door, he sighed and appered to be very bored.

"I should probably listen to this," he said as he opened the door and looked out.

The sound of a few hundred people talking filled the air they found a place to sit. Laura couldn't see what was going on since she was facing the wrong way. The only thing she could see on the other side was through the small window of the opened door, and that was only the ceiling of the plane. Then a loud voice broke through the crowded soundscape.

"Quiet!"

It needed only to be said once, the chattering disappeared so fast that it had almost sounded like someone turning off a radio. Laura recognized the voice. It was the voice of the Captain.

"I hope you've had a nice little autumn-break here at Camp Boot. You've wrestled in the sand, swam in the lake and played soldiers, but now the break is over and it's back to the hard school of life and death." There was a pause, still, everyone was silent. The only sound was a heavy set of boots pacing back and forth.

"After a few months here, you probably think you know that school pretty well, right?" There was no response. Blonsky continued on without missing a beat.

"Well, I'm here to tell you that you don't know shit. So you've done some pushups and fired a rifle at a moving target. You don't know what it's like to try to push yourself up when you have shrapnel stuck in your leg. You don't know what it's like to fire a rifle when the target is trying to kill you too. And you don't understand what kind of world we live in now." Laura could practically hear the soldiers shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

"Enhanced individuals are becoming more and more prevalent by the day. More and more reports of large-scale terror attacks are coming in every day from around the world. The Avengers are not enough, they cannot be in New York and Los Angeles at the same time and that means that we are the first line of defense."

Gasser huffed and, being out of sight of the Captain, put his feet up on some crates and leaned back farther into his chair.

"But ignorance is not an excuse. When I came here, I saw a few of you glancing at the asset currently kept in the cargo hold. Some with passing interest and I can't blame you for that. But I saw some looking with concern, some with doubts, some with empathy. Your concern is not needed! Your doubts are a distraction! Your empathy… a trojan horse." Blonsky had gone from calm to raging in a second and Gasser finally seemed to pay attention. He seemed to concentrate on something as he looked at the door. But then he shrugged and continued to relax. Blonsky continued though his voice was calmer now.

"You are going to be handling assets like the one in the cargo hold on a daily basis and you do not want to make mistakes around them. We lost a soldier today for not being careful enough with the asset. Even if they have tragic stories, even if they look like you. They are not like you and people will die if you treat them like people. Congratulations, you're now the first line of defense. Try not to die within the first week."

With that, the speech was over and it took a while before the soldiers started talking again.

"Is he always angry?" Laura asked quietly, she didn't want anyone else to hear. Gasser raised an eyebrow at her.

"Blonsky? Nah, most of that was an act. It's when he gets too deep into character that I need to step in."

"I thought he was your superior?" Laura asked confused. Gasser looked taken aback.

"He is, I just know when he's going to go over the line. So I have orders from the higher-ups to step in when he does," he said a little suspiciously."How did you know he was my superior?"

"You're a specialist. He's a captain. I can see your insignia," Laura said simply.

"Now where did a little girl like you learn a little thing like that?" Gasser said leaning forward in his chair.

"Classified" Laura retorted quickly. Learning about military ranks had been part of growing up with mercenaries as guards. Many of them had previously been part of the US army, and some still showed their ranks as a sign of pride and status. Gasser's eyebrows both rose, he rocked back in the chair and snorted a short and loud laugh.

"I deserved that I guess. But a word of advice, just because you entertained me," he said suddenly serious."That's not going to entertain Blonsky… and it's not going to entertain General Ross."

"Who's General Ross?" Laura asked carefully. Blonsky's eyebrows shot up again.

"You don't know about Thaddeus Thunderbolt Ross?" Laura shook her head and Gasser got a curious look on his face.

"Well, He's not actually officially serving as a general anymore, everybody just calls him that because of his massive influence and continual force of habit. He's actually the secretary of state now and that keeps him busy with a lot of other matters. Didn't you learn this in school or something?"

Laura shook her head again, and Gasser proceeded to scratch his.

"Well, what matters is that he makes it a point of interest to meet anyone new enhanced that comes into his… possession."

Laura got a tight feeling in her stomach. 'Possession'? This sounded suspiciously similar to the reavers way of doing things. However, these people didn't fully operate like the reavers. Firstly, they hadn't known about the others in the X-23 project and if they were hired by the Facility, they definitely should know about that. That was if they didn't lie of course but Laura couldn't figure out why they would. Second, Laura had never heard of the Reavers having large military bases like the one she had seen. Blonsky had even said that he was with the United States military, but she didn't completely trust that. She hadn't thought about it much before, but Blonsky had a weird dialect. In the travels from Mexico to Canada, Laura had heard a bunch of different accents from different people, but none of them had sounded like his. She had of course not been in the entire United States but she thought she had probably been in the majority of it so it wasn't a far off guess that he wasn't from the States.

"Why?" Laura asked Gasser after a while.

"Who knows? Personally, I think it's because Ross is a man that likes control. He likes to know what he is going to be dealing with." Gasser responded thoughtfully. Laura shook her head.

"No, why did you take me?" she asked Gasser took out some earphones and a black-green phone from his belt.

"That's classified you know, and Blonsky likes to keep his captures in the dark as long as possible, fearing the worst. I may push people's buttons, but I'm not gonna push his." Gasser responded as he put one of the earphones in. He then stopped and looked more carefully at Laura. He sighed.

"Alright, I will tell you one thing, since you'll find that out fairly shortly. But don't tell Ross or Blonsky I said anything."Laura gave a microscopic nod, she was going to keep that promise. Gasser did the same concentrated expression he had done before as he looked at her.

"I think I can trust you with this." he leaned in closer.

"The place we are currently headed is called the Raft."

* * *

Author's notes

As I suspected… things taking longer than expected is now a theme. But at least it's finally done. I have been extremely busy the last month. Got a new apartment and a new job as well as Tabletop games and putting on a Theater taking a lot of my spare time. So generally I didn't have the time and/or the energy to write this. Things have calmed down a little bit now so hopefully, the next chapter should come out a little bit sooner… though I'm even doubting that myself.

I have not really written villains before and I found it extremely enjoyable. It's also nice to write some proper dialogues instead of walls and walls of text :). Well, see you next time!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The rest of the ride had been pretty quiet, though not very comfortable. After Gasser had said where they were going, he had put his earbuds in and listened to music the rest of his anointed time with her. Laura was still in the stretcher trying to find a position that at least was tolerable. After a while, she just gave up and resigned herself to be uncomfortable with the restraints that were digging into her arms. After some time the other soldier called Loop came in. He didn't even try to begin a conversation, and Laura was fine with just staring at him angrily. She could see on his insignia that he was also a specialist. And not only that, he had been on the strike-force that had taken her. But on the whole, she was left with only her thoughts of what this "raft" could be.

Maybe they were going to set her into the middle of a lake on a piece of driftwood? Maybe they were going to put her on a boat of some sort and make her fight for her own survival. Maybe that's how they created soldiers like Blonsky, he would win a scenario like that. He said that they were going to 'tame her.' whatever that meant. It sounded like it was a continuation of what they were trying to do in the facility. Transforming her into a killer to suit their needs. She had already decided that she would never kill anyone. At least anyone that wasn't a bad guy… so Gasser would probably live. He was annoying sure, but he wasn't bad. He had actually been kind of nice to her. She shook her head. Donald Pierce, the leader of the Reavers, had acted nice when it suited him, but Laura knew that he had been a bad guy. Liam had also acted nice, but he had told Mary to train a gun on her. She couldn't trust these people… Suddenly, a harsh beeping noise was heard, and Looper fastened his seatbelt with precise quickness as the plane slowly started to descend. She could feel the plane struggle with the turbulence. Soon she felt a large bump, and she assumed that the wheels of the plane now had touched the ground. When the plane had slowed down to a halt, she could hear the soldiers from the other room moving out of the plane. All this time Loop looked out the door-window patiently. After a little while in growing silence, Loop started to wheel her out of the cargo hold and out of the plane.

Laura was rolled down the ramp and into the worst whether she had ever seen. The rain was so heavy that she thought it was a wonder that they even had been able to set down. The wind was blowing her long hair into her face, and with no hands to sweep it away her captors might as well have glued it there. They definitely weren't on a piece of driftwood. It was the largest ship she had until now seen. The runway alone looked like it was longer than the hospital she had been in. The ship, if she could even call it that since it didn't appear to move at all, was practically entirely made of metal. She saw soldiers and other personnel were running up and down, their hands protective over their eyes to shield them against the downpour. White and yellow lights were situated by the sides of the boat and lit the thousands of heavy raindrops falling on the deck. Loop was already wheeling her away from the weather towards a raised section of the boat with a massive metal door as a few more soldiers came to escort them. Laura tried to see if she could locate land nearby she could swim to if the need would arise. However, even with her enhanced senses, she could not see ashore anywhere. She told herself that it must be because of the rain and because it was surprisingly dark. When the weather cleared up there had to be land somewhere. They arrived now at the metal doors after a minute or so of being drenched, and Loop raised his dog tag to a small keypad next to it and hurriedly punched in a few numbers. The door opened with a hiss and she was wheeled into an uplit corridor, soldiers now in front and behind her, talking loudly amongst themselves. The door closed behind them with a definitive sound. Laura could see how the soldiers and Loop were shaking the water out of their clothes from the corner of her eyes.

They moved down the corridor until they reached an elevator, they entered and Laura started to feel the same tightness in her chest as she had done when she had first discovered she was restrained. She could feel her heart beating faster as the elevator doors shut and they were stuck in a small metal box slowly sinking down into the middle of this "Raft." She furrowed her brow so fiercely that two of the soldiers looked her way and raised an eyebrow. She needed to clear her head. She needed a plan. She couldn't do anything because of her restraints, she was completely tied up. The elevator doors opened once again, and Laura was greeted by the glorious sight of another drab corridor.

Suddenly Laura saw something glint in the drab lighting and turned around and saw that one of the soldiers, a browned haired and strong jawed man, had taken out a syringe filled with a transparent liquid. He came closer towards her but Loop quickly put up a hand and the soldier stopped.

"Not going to work, pumped this one with enough tranqs to sedate an elephant. It didn't stick long enough for her to assault and kill one of us. What you're holding there is probably not going to hold her more than thirty seconds at best, so we're saving that for later and we're using the blindfold today."

At the mention of this Laura saw a soldier in front of her started to rummage through her pockets and suddenly looked worried. Loop turned towards her with a dull expression on his face still chewing gum.

"What's the matter, private?" He asked in a monotone.

"Sorry, sir. I forgot the blindfold!" she said while giving Loop a troopers salute. Loop took a few more bit down a few more times in silence, staring at the woman with the same expression on his face at the woman. She started to look even more uncomfortable.

"Then improvise, so we can file the asset before fucking Christmas."

To her credit, the soldier didn't hesitate. She unbuttoned her heavy jacket and ripped a piece of her white shirt underneath. With the improvised blindfold in one hand, she nodded at one of the other soldiers who placed his hand against Laura's head. She didn't even try to resist. The white blindfold was quickly tied around her head leaving her with only partial vision through the cloth. If the soldier hadn't been so flustered and Laura's vision not superhuman, she wouldn't have seen a thing. Not that it mattered since everything seem to look the same under here.

They started to move out again, turning this way and that when the corridor split. Laura thought it was a miracle the soldiers knew where to go. She realized that she would never find her way out of here if she didn't do something. There were no signs, no landmarks or anything distinctive to make the journey back easier. Just the same corridors, over and over again. Even if she escaped, she would never find her way here without a map or any marks pointing her in the right way. Laura realized that the needle they were going to give to her was probably filled with some sedative to make her fall asleep, or at least be less attentive. This part of the ship was designed to make anyone who didn't know the way confused. That's why they had used the blindfold instead, so she wouldn't be able to find her back. She hung her head and the only thing she saw through the cloth was her feet. Her feet! The thought struck her that she wasn't completely tied up. Her left foot still had a little wiggle-room and even with some more wiggle, it would still look like she was tied up, but give her enough movement to follow through with a rapidly forming plan. She tried to a stealthy look over her shoulder to see if the soldiers were monitoring her. As luck would have it they were in the middle of a conversation about the state of the food at the facility and so they did not realize that as soon as they rounded a corner or approached a wall on their left side, Laura stuck out her foot and unsheathe her claw, making a small nick in the metal. She listened for any response but the soldier's loud conversation was drowning out the slight sound her claw made when it scraped against the metal walls. She continued doing this anytime they would make a turn. Swiftly unsheathe her claw, make a small mark in the wall and just as quickly sheathe it and hope that they would be none the wiser. As luck would have it they didn't notice. She kept on doing this until the corridor ended and they reached another elevator. The soldiers wheeled her into it and they went further down into the Raft.

Even with her blindfold Laura could see that they had entered an enormous room. Blue lights streamed into the cloth making Laura try and avoid the irritating glare. With that effort, the blindfold actually moved a small bit, giving Laura a small window to look at her surroundings. And when she did, the only thing she could do was to stare. In front of them was a massive tear, a gaping hole that was so deep that Laura could barely see the bottom. The only thing that helped her make out some of the detail were the lights from hundreds of cells that filled the walls from top to bottom. Small cubicles with a bed, a sink, a small desk and chair, and a toilet open for anyone to see. And inside these tiny living quarters were hundreds of people. And not just ordinary people. Mutants. It had to be because of the security and for the fact that some of them looked wonderfully strange. One of them had a very lumpy head, and whose skin was a yellowish color. One of them being a woman with a red orb instead of a head. One of them was a young man that had some sort of antenna where his ears should have been that seemed to follow the movement of Laura and the soldiers as they rode another elevator situated in and sank deeper and deeper into the prison. They had descended so far down by now that Laura wondered if they soon would plop out of some hole on the other side of the world. But of course, they didn't. Instead, when the elevator stopped on the deepest level she was taken through a long pathway with a door that generated a loud hissing noise when it opened and had a rounded ceiling, unlike the rest of the underwater facility. Before long they reached another door that made the same hissing noise and she was led into a circular corridor with doors evenly spaced around the outer walls. There was a narrow door in front of them that seemed to lead to another, and Laura borrowed some words from Logan, goddamn elevator. She remembered the first time she had rode one and had been excited to try it. The novelty had definitely worn off by now, especially since she couldn't push the buttons herself. Luckily they didn't take the descending devil but turned to the first door to their right. The door itself was made of a polished metal and to the side, Laura could barely see a plaque that read "EYF-2."

"Give me the syringe and be ready with the door," Loop said, and Laura could hear the fabric of his clothes as he probably was motioning to the soldiers. Laura felt how beads of sweat were forming on her forehead and fall into the white cloth as she waited to make her move. This was her only shot. She could discover her way out and any door with a passcode she could probably just slice through. Suddenly and without warning the needle went into her arm, and Laura felt how the liquid inside was pushed into her body. For a few seconds, nothing happened and Laura thought that the drug had no effect on her. At that moment she started to feel dizzy, it was like a fog lay over her mind, and it made it very difficult to move. She could feel her mind slipping, and she shook her head to try and clear it.

"Quickly, she's nearly out of it!" she heard a panicked voice that seemed far away say.

She then noticed that her feet had been released from the stretcher's bindings. It took her a precious few moments to realize that she was free and that she could fight back.

Don't let them push you into the cell. Resist. Fight back until you can free yourself with your claws. You only need a few seconds before you can kill them all.

Laura tried to thrust her feet towards the edges of the door to push the stretcher back from it. She could feel the surprised movements of Loop who was securing it behind her as she pressed the stretcher out into the circular corridor. Another surge of adrenaline hit her as she pushed even harder. She heard how the soldiers beside her were now releasing the safety of their rifles. This was going to have to be quick. She readied herself to tip the stretcher over.

"No, you don't, kid. You're getting grounded for life" she heard Loop behind her say. Then she hit something hard behind her. For a second she thought it was the wall. However, then the wall started to move towards the door, accompanied with heavy footsteps so loud that they were grinding on the metal beneath. She felt how her legs on the edges of the door were slipping away from the door on each side. If she didn't bend them so that they fit into the door, she was going to break her legs doing a split as the unrelenting force behind her pushed her in. She hesitated a moment to long, and she felt how her legs where both pushed sideways and upwards. She panicked and tried to get them free. Too late. Her left leg broke at the knee and she screamed in pain as her legs entered the room. Her eyes watered as she went into a temporary shock.

Before she knew it, she was falling forwards and hit a carpet-clad floor. Her hands had been untied, and she was inside the room. In her confused dizziness she tried to stand up to attack the soldiers but her leg gave way under her and the heavy door closed behind her with a definitive sound.

After a few more seconds of dizziness, the drug had vanished from her system and she felt the full force of her broken leg for the first time. She bit down on the carpet she was laying on as the muscles in her legs were adjusting the knee for it come to its proper place and heal. When that was done, she just lay on the floor, completely exhausted. Then she realized that for the first time in hours she was able to move her hands and feet freely. She relished that freedom for a moment as she moved her arms to scratch her nose, something she had wanted to do for a while, before deciding that laying on a pink carpet was not the best use of her time. She stopped her train of thought for a moment and removed the blindfold. But her first observation had been correct, the floor was indeed covered in a pink carpet. She rose and for the first time looked around her prison.  
The room was filled with things. A red chest with an open lid that was overflowing with colorful toys, a canopy bed with white sheets and drapes, a desk with a small screen and a small trash can, a shelf filled with books and cases. Besides that, there was two chairs and a table. The walls were white and were decorated with framed pictures that portrayed horses and other animals. Although, some were just colorful shapes and didn't seem to portray anything at all. In the corner was another door that Laura guessed lead to the bathroom. Laura looked around the room with suspicious awe. Why would they make her cell like this? It didn't make any sense to her. She gave herself a mental shoulder shake. It didn't matter, she needed a way out. She turned around and faced the door again. Beside it was a small control box with a keypad and a tag scanner. Laura unsheathed her claws.  
"Hello, can you hear me? I see what you are doing but please don't try and damage the door. It won't work." a woman with a voice that seemed quite unsure had just spoken behind Laura and in the motion she had used to try and swipe at the control box, she swung around to look behind her. It was no one there. Laura glanced searchingly around and found what she was looking for. Inside the ceiling were two black dots, one speaker and one camera. Laura looked up and gave the camera an aggressive look. She had no idea if it had intimidated the person to be quiet, but she felt better. She swung around again and held up her claws so that the camera would see them. She pierced the control box with ease. At least, that's what she thought for a split second before a deafening crack was heard and a pulse of electricity struck her so hard that she flew back five feet and landed on the carpet again with her facing the camera. Clearly, it was mocking her.

" _Oh, I'm sorry about that, but I did tell you. That looked like it hurt_ ," The disembodied voice told her with concern. Laura didn't listen. She screamed, rose in a single athletic jump, saw that the control box was completely unharmed from her previous attempt and lunged towards the door this time. Another thunderous noise and another shock and Laura were on the floor again screaming in pain.

" _I understand you're scared but_ …" the voice said, but Laura was on her feet again this time striking the walls beside the door. Same result. She tried a dozen more times in other places but nothing seemed to work. The voice stopped trying to talk with her after the fourth try. After her outburst, Laura just lay on the floor panting and healing the burn marks the walls had administered.

" _I understand that this comes as a shock to you_." the voice said after a few moments had passed. Laura looked incredulously at the camera. Either the woman didn't see it or she ignored it.  
" _I promise we'll explain everything later. But first, you must be starving. There is some food on the table if you're hungry. You merely need to call if you want someone to speak to_."

And so the voice was gone. After a minute or so of waiting for something else to happen Laura rose from the carpet and carefully started to inspect the room. She removed the carpet to the best of her ability to look for pressure plates. Nothing. She then systematically went through every furniture, every appliance, and cable. She discovered some clothes in a cupboard decided to change. She chose a light blue shirt with what she supposed to be a cat listening to music on some headphones and some new jeans. They were a little small, but they were better than being cold. When she opened the door to the bathroom and discovered that is being a lot larger than she had expected. There were both a shower and a bathtub. Some cabinets that contained so many things that Laura barely knew what half of them were for. And of course, a toilet. Laura didn't hesitate. She ripped out every little thing and inspected it. After that, she tried to open the drain to the shower but realized was sealed tight. She thought about cutting it open but decided not to because she didn't want to be shocked again and that she could probably not escape through there. She stuck her hand into the toilet bowl to see if they had placed something there. After that she gave up, feeling utterly hopeless. The only things this had given her were a gross wet hand and the information that the room had been unused for a long time, as a layer of dust had been on every surface. Laura rinsed her toilet-hand in the sink for a long time, enjoying the warm water on her arm. She tried to think of something else to do to get out of the room. But her mind was slow after all that had happened during the day and in trying to collect her thoughts the only thing she got out of it was a slight headache. Laura turned off the water, picked up the towel she had thrown down on the floor during her investigation and dried herself off. She went back into the room and went to the table to investigate the thing she had saved for last. The food.

The food was on a grey tray with a transparent plastic lid, foggy with steam. Beside it was a greyish yellow plastic spork and knife in the same color next to it. A white paper towel and two shakers with salt and pepper were also located on the table. Laura sat down and removed the lid. It was a sausage and mashed potato with vegetables on the side. Laura sniffed it carefully. It had become lukewarm but still smelled wonderful. Healing her leg had made her even more hungry than she had already been. She didn't care if the food was poisoned or something as her healing factor would just cleanse it and still give her more energy than she had started with. She looked around once out of habit and then began to eat. It was a lot better than half-rotten meat and it didn't take long before everything was gone. She looked disappointed at the empty tray. She would've wanted more, but this would have to do. She needed to think of what to do next. She couldn't escape the room, not yet at least, she needed more information on how to achieve that. She couldn't eat because she didn't have any food. She had water and had a shelter. There was nothing she could do. She could feel how her eyes started to water again. She didn't want to cry again. She rushed towards the wall again, claws unsheathed striking. Leaving a slight dent in the tapestry and then getting another cruel shock that made her fly backward. She rose and did this a few times and told herself that the tears coming from her eyes were those of pain. When she didn't get results from the walls, she started to go loose on the furniture to systematically turn them into firewood. When everything but the bed was pulverized she gathered things to throw and kick. After that, she merely stood in the center of the carnage, panting from exhasion with tears and snot running down her face. She sank into a corner of the room with her head in her arms. She was back were she started, but this time with people she didn't know in an underwater prison without a chance to escape her cell. And even if she did, there was no guarantee that she would be able to get to shore. And this time she was without her friends, without Gabriella. Without her dad.

With nothing else to do but feel bad for herself, after a while Laura got a fresh reminder why being locked inside a room was torture. The utter boredom could drive a person insane. At first Laura didn't touch anything that had been placed for her enjoyment out of spite. But after a long while of looking into the wall with varying waves of despair and tiredness she picked up the nearest book she had thrown on the ground. It was not a very thick book, but she found the language so difficult and with no images in it, she soon tired of it and dropped dismissively on the floor. She tried another one. This one wasn't half bad, it was about a bear, and Gabriella had told her stories about them. It also helped that the book had pictures. However, she soon lost focus and put it down, this time with the pages facing the floor so she could continue on reading when she wanted to. She continued on picking up the books, on the floor. Sometimes she read a chapter or two and sometimes she just read a few sentences before she lost interest and moved on to another one. She continued on doing this for quite some time before she removed a thin book from the floor and flipped it around. Her heart started to beat faster when she saw the title. Pinocchio. There was a silhouette picture of a puppet on the front with such a long nose that it almost went over the spine. The title was in gold, and the letters in the title were oddly curved and blended into each other. Laura ran her hands over the cover, feeling every detail. She didn't cry. Laura's hands were shaking as she turned to the first page and started to read.  
It was the same story Gabriella had told her so many times, so long ago. Laura immersed herself deeper into the words and found that they were not the same as she had heard it. Gabriella used to tell it to her without a book and she had told it simply and in Spanish. The book had pretty complicated language and Laura had guess the meaning of many of the phrases. Luckily they were pretty self-explanatory. Unfortunately, it was in English which removed some of the feeling of comfort she received. Laura carefully put down the book and furrowed her brow. What were her priorities?

 _You need to escape._  
How would she do that?  
 _Gather intel, so you can get out of your cell._  
How would she come to shore?  
 _Find a boat or find an ally with the same goal. There are many people down here who wants to get out._  
What would she do when she got to shore?  
 _Find shelter, food and water._  
What would she do after that?  
 _Stay hidden and survive._  
What would she do after that?  
 _Stay hidden and survive._  
What would she do after that?  
 _Stay hidden and survive._

Laura fell asleep on the floor, her thoughts looping endlessly in her mind and a book of a puppet wanting to become a real boy on her lap.

* * *

Authors note:

Woo, it's finally done. I'm sorry for not updating more often but it been hectic recently. But now it's the holidays and I have more time that I can devote to actually write so hopefully the next chapter won't take… more than three months…

I actually planned that more things were going to happen in this chapter, but I have a tendency to write walls of text and I want to update regularly (you can laugh, that's okay.). So that's fun. Thanks for your patience and as always if you want to give something back; give me a review or a PM with some constructive criticism. I do this because I want to improve my writing skill (and because I have wanted to read a story like this with X-23 for a long time). So cheers and happy holidays.

Edit: Woops, saw that I accidentally had misnamed Gabriella to Gloria. It's fixed now.


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